C-Fam’s 10 Years Boost Pope's U.N. Welcome

From the April 6-12 issue of National Catholic Register:

NEW YORK — When Pope Benedict XVI speaks at the United Nations this month, one Catholic group will take particular satisfaction in the fact that he will come with a special status among nations rather than as an outsider.

The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) was at the forefront of an effort to keep the Holy See’s permanent observer status at the United Nations against a push by pro-abortion groups, led by the so-called Catholics for a Free Choice, to remove the Vatican from official standing at the international body.

The effort to oust the Holy See was an indication of the Vatican’s effectiveness in defending human rights and the family, and in rallying other nations against a drive to add abortion as a basic human right in U.N. documents, said Austin Ruse, president of C-Fam.

“The Holy See is the oldest continuous government in the world and maintains diplomatic relations with most of the nations in the world,” Ruse said recently. “To say that it does not deserve status in the United Nations because it stands for peace and justice and the smallest and most defenseless human beings is an absurdly narrow viewpoint that was rightly rejected.”

The highly charged battle, beginning in 1999, also raised the profile of the fledgling C-Fam and won the organization thousands of new supporters worldwide.

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[Ruse] added, ironically, “I thank Frances Kissling [then head of Catholics for a Free Choice] for C-Fam’s large list of donors.”

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My Comments:
An interesting read on a pro-life NGO keeping an eye on the United Nation's population control efforts.